Well, I did it! My second 10K, and I managed a sub 40 minute time finishing in the top 2.9% (3011 runners) :) My legs are aching, but I’m pretty happy with the result (full results link here).
I’m primarily a cyclist (or at least, trying to be) so sacrificing training sessions for running has been difficult, especially as I’ve just come of the back of a very mediocre cyclo-cross season and I’m wanting to smash the miles ready for the coming season in September!
I use Endomondo for tracking all my training and I love the statistics page (data, mmmm). I knew that last year I did 40 miles worth of training for the 10K with a sub 45 time, and so this year I aimed to run roughly double that in the hope of running a sub 41. In the end, I did 78 miles of training, which included a 40:34 10K training run so I knew I stood a good chance of a sub 40 today:
Wellllllllllllllll, I said before the race that if I ran a sub 40 I would be able to retire from running happy. Of course, I know now that this isn’t true and I’m already thinking about lowering it to a sub 37 ;) I don’t even like running!
Gawd. Still buzzing about having moved up a complete grade at work within 14 months, I found out today that my new desktop (Quad core Intel Core i7 870, with 8GB DDR3) was signed off as approved and my new HTC HD7 phone arrived! It’s such a gorgeous piece of hardware, and the OS is very pretty, but it has a long way to catch up with Android / iOS in terms of usability and functionality. Still, a pretty boss work phone to say the least :) Can’t wait for the desktop to arrive…
I got my promotion today! I had to jump through some formal hoops, sitting through an interview with the I.T. Director, Head of Internet Services, Hosted Services Manager and Head of Corporate Systems. A scary sounding line up, especially when you consider the I.T. Director has a first class degree in Physics and a Phd in Nuclear Physics (from Oxford no less) :) Despite the nerves I think the interview went very well – my line manager reported back that they all thought I seemed intelligent and very articulate. They are keen for me to undertake a post-graduate diploma of my choosing (with financial support of course) so that it may help me move to the next level in a few years time (although it is not *required*). I’d like to imagine that I’ll feel ready for it by then but we’ll see. I’m already thinking about a study plan for what the kind of position I expect to be available ;)
So in short I’m extremely happy today. 50% extra holiday. 22% extra pay. Life is pretty much perfect right now :D
My new Nikon D3100 arrived today. Looking forward to some 1080p HD video recording! Managed to get £250 for my old (Nikon D60) which I paid £290 for 2 years ago. Result :)
An example of the quality with different lenses (view on Youtube for the full resolution):
